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Writing is hard enough as it is. Throw in a full-time job on a low income and it becomes a lot harder. But don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to keep writing costs low and maintain a full-time job, it just takes perseverance, a lot of passion and keeping an eye on the whitefox blog for posts like this!

The Royal Literary Fund: The RLF is an indispensable support system for writers, offering grants and pensions to low-income authors (including fellowships for students!). However, it’s important to remember that the RLF’s services are only available to writers who have ‘commercially published several works in the UK’ and are struggling financially. So, if this sounds like you, head over to the RLF website to apply for support!

Arts Council England: Arts Council England is probably a name you’ve heard, and for good reason. With grants ranging between £1,000 and £100,000, they’re a fantastic champion of the arts who invest in artistic and cultural projects. If you have an exciting idea for a creative project, apply to ACE and you could receive funding to plan, organise and execute your dream.

The Literary Consultancy: Providing fantastic opportunities for low-income writers since 1996, TLC offers a manuscript assessment service, mentoring programmes and literary events tailored to provide authors with support and inspiration. TLC do charge for their expert services but also receive funding from ACE to run various low-income projects such as their free reads scheme, which prioritises entries from marginalised writers.

Spread the Word: Spread the Word are dedicated to making writing as accessible as possible, and regularly have fantastic competitions and opportunities with low-income entries (check out their current opportunities here). They also host a free reads manuscript assessment. Spread the Word are very active on social media so be sure to keep an eye on their pages for all the latest opportunities.

Competitions: As a low-income writer it can be tough to find the spare time to write, let alone consider paying £10+ for competition entries, but more and more competitions are now offering free entries to low-income writers, so don’t forget to check before disregarding a potential opportunity. Some of the biggest competitions such as The Bath Novel Award, The Bare Fiction prize and (pretty much) all of Mslexia’s competitions offer amazing opportunities for low-income writers, with fantastic prizes, as well.